Twisted Destiny
by Celsius Fate
Summary: Ashitaka and his twin sister were the Prince and Princess of the Emishi tribe. When they are cursed by a Demon from the West, they are forced to leave the village and become embroiled in a bitter battle between humanity and Forest Spirits. As they desperately try to stop the needless bloodshed, they run into two humans raised by the Wolf Goddess...
1. Chapter 1

**Princess Mononoke and other Studio Ghibli films are on Netflix! I grew up watching them and I've always loved Princess Mononoke and wanted to write a fanfiction about it, but never really got the chance. Rewatching it on Netflix has rekindled my interest in writing the story, so I've decided to go ahead and write it XD **

**Summary: Ashitaka and his twin sister were the Prince and Princess of the Emishi tribe, with the Elders preparing for the ceremony to make the the heads of the village. When they are cursed by a Demon from the West, they are forced to leave the village and become embroiled in a bitter battle between humanity and Forest Spirits. As they desperately try to stop the needless bloodshed, they run into two humans raised by Wolves...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Princess Mononoke nor do I make any profit off this **

**Note: This story will contain OCs**

* * *

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

**Twisted Destiny**

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

**Chapter I**

_In ancient times, the land lay covered in forests, where, from ages long past, dwelt the Spirit of the Gods.  
__Back then, Man and Beast lived in harmony, but as time went by, most of the great forests were destroyed.  
Those that remained were guarded by gigantic beasts, who owed their allegiance to the Great Forest Spirit,  
For those were the days of the Gods...and of Demons..._

Footsteps reverberated throughout the entire forest as a large shadow charged ahead. Wherever this thing stepped, withered leaves and giant trees shriveled up, dying as the creature continued its rampage unattended. The creature payed it no heed. Only death and destruction filled its mind, driving it into a mad frenzy. Picking up the scent of a human village nearby, the creature changed its course to head straight for it.

Humans were the ones who drove him to this state.

Humans were the ones who embedded a bullet into his flesh.

Humans were the ones who destroyed his forest and home.

He needed, no, _wanted _to make them pay.

For he was the embodiment of Hatred...

* * *

"Aniki, wait for me!"

Ashitaka gently yanked on Yakul's reigns to make his loyal companion stop while he waited for his twin sister to catch up on her own elk. Kotone came trotting into view on the back of Hakul, giving a sheepish grin to her older brother as she did. Ashitaka smiled and reached out to pat his younger twin on the head, gently ruffling her hair while Kotone protested. The two of them wore the distinct blue tunics of the Emishi tribe, with red sashes tied across their waist from which a scabbard dangled containing their swords. Their legs were barefoot save for pieces of blue fabric wrapped around their ankles, with bandages snaking up their arms from the wrist. As the Prince and Princess of their tribe, their hair were pulled back in the traditional topknot as required by the Elders of the village.

The Emishi Tribe were once a proud race of warriors, but their clan was nearly driven to extinction by the emperor of that time around five hundred years ago. Now their village had been relocate far to the east, away from prying eyes and tightly guarded day and night.

"I thought you were with Kaya and the others? Why are you here?" Ashitaka frowned at his younger sister.

"They're just gathering herbs and food for the village. I've already done my share so I came to find you," Kotone replied with a small huff.

He let out a small sigh of defeat.

"Come along then. I was going to check on jii anyways."

The siblings urged their elks forward at a leisurely pace until Kaya came running out of the forest with Sae and Hana.

"Ashitaka! Kotone! Thank the gods we found you!" Kaya said, urgency evident in her voice.

"What's going on?"

"Jii-san said the forest is acting strange. He told us to go back to the village and warn the others," Kaya explained.

The siblings exchanged brief looks.

"Go. Go warn the Elders and everyone else. We'll check on Jii-san at the tower," was all Kotone said as she and her brother raced towards the wooden watch tower near the border of the village.

Jumping off their mounts upon arriving, the two quickly made their way up the watch post but paused halfway when they spotted something moving within the forest.

"Aniki...what is it?" Kotone asked quietly, a sense of dread filling her very soul.

"I don't know."

Making their way up the watch post, they found the village lookout staring into the forest as if in a trance.

"Jii-san, what is it?" Ashitaka inquired, snapping the older man back into reality.

"Something not of this world," was all the latter said.

Kotone stared hard into the darkness of the forest and her eyes could make out wiggling shapes in the distance, shapes that resembled worms of some kind. Then without warning, a massive beast broke through the stone wall that served as a boundary marker for their tribe, crawling its way towards them on four legs. Kotone gripped her brother's arm in fear as she whirled her head around. The creature stepped into the sunlight and the worm-like tentacles immediately flew up in a frenzy, revealing the wounded body of a massive boar beneath as their host.

"Aniki!"

"Yakul, Hakul, run!" Ashitaka shouted.

The elks were frozen with fear as the creature barreled towards them.

Ashitaka released an arrow from his bow at that moment, the impact of the arrow was enough to send their steeds running for safety.

"It's coming straight for us!" Kotone said.

Indeed the demon came right at them with such powerful force, it sent the watch tower crumbling into pieces. Ashitaka grabbed the elderly man in his arms and the siblings jumped into the nearby tree to avoid falling from such a great height. Kotone grunted as she landed roughly on a branch, the momentum briefly stunning her. After regaining her senses, she looked out of the tree and found a mass of tentacle worm-like creatures shuffling around the spot where the watch tower had been. Then four pairs of hands sprung out and immediately the demon headed for their village in the distance.

"It's headed for the village!" she cried in alarm.

"We have to stop it!" Ashitaka said.

The siblings jumped out of the tree with bows in hand as Jii shouted a warning at them overhead.

"The creature is cursed! Don't let it touch you!"

Whistling sharply for their elks to come, the siblings strung their bows and swung deftly onto the backs of their loyal steeds. The two elks easily made their way down the slope of the mountain, until they were right next to the demon. The only thing Kotone and Ashitaka could make out were the gleaming pair of blood-red eyes. Eyes that were full of anger and hatred.

Rounding the corner of the mountain somehow forced the demon to run out right behind the duo, and they shifted their bodies around in an attempt to appease the creature.

"Calm yourself, O mighty lord!" Ashitaka implored.

"There are innocent lives ahead of you, spare us your wrath!" Kotone added.

"Whether you are demon or god, please leave us in peace!" her brother continued.

Exiting the forest with the demon still pursuing them, the siblings urged their elks to run forward until they realized it was no longer following. Kotone spun her head around and realized the demon had spotted her friends and proceeded to change its course to chase them instead.

"Aniki, we can't let it reach the village!"

Yakul and Hakul ran for the demon, putting themselves in danger while the siblings tried to make it stop.

"Go back! Leave our village alone!" Ashitaka ordered.

"Stop!" Kotone added.

Suddenly Hana slipped and fell on her stomach, alarming the siblings as Kaya drew her sword in an attempt to ward off the demon. Realizing their friends were going to die if the demon continued, both of them drew arrows from their quivers and released them at the creature. The projectiles pierced one of the eyes of the demon, sending it screaming in pain as the worm-like tentacles converged on the wounded area.

"Get out of here now!" Kotone shouted at her friends.

Massive worm-like tentacles erupted from the demon and aimed themselves at the siblings. Kotone and Ashitaka raised their right and left arms respectively, wincing in pain as the worms converged on their arms. Ripping their limbs free from the tendrils, both siblings notched another arrow into their bow and took careful aim. The worms were leaving the boar at this point, revealing just how big it was as it roared angrily at them both. They released their arrows right into the same wounded eye, causing the boar to roar in anguish once more.

The tentacles stopped chasing them at that point but the damage was done.

Kotone and Ashitaka grunted in pain as the tentacles melted off their arms, eating away at the bandages that had been freshly wrapped earlier that morning.

The tentacles pooled around the massive boar as it stood still.

Then it fell over with a loud _thud_.

The boar was dead.

An intense burning sensation prompted the siblings to slid off their mounts and onto the ground as the entire village came running towards them at that moment. Kaya knelt in front of the siblings, worry evident on her face.

"Don't touch it Kaya," Kotone ordered, her face contorting in pain.

So her friend began piling dirt on top of her left arm while her brother did the same to his right.

"Everyone get back!" the Village Oracle said as she was carried into view by one of the villagers.

Kaya stood up as the Oracle handed her a large gourd of holy water.

"Pour this over their wounds slowly child," the Oracle instructed.

Kaya tipped the gourd over the wounds of her two friends. Ashitaka and Kotone grunted in pain as steam rose off their angry red-looking skin.

The Village Oracle went over to where the boar laid and bowed to it.

Kotone couldn't hear what the Oracle was saying but then the boar spoke, and its words terrified her deeply.

"_Filthy disgusting humans, soon the same fate shall befall you as it did me, and you will experience the suffering I have went through..." _

Then the body of the board melted away until nothing but a pile of bones remained.

Kotone turned her head away from the scene, leaning against her brother for support and comfort.

* * *

Later that evening the siblings sat before the Village Oracle and Elders in silence. Bandages were wrapped around their right and left arms, hiding the grotesque scars from view. Kotone nearly fainted in shock when Kaya helped her dress her wound after the battle. No doubt her brother was disturbed by what he saw judging from the expression on his face.

No one said a word until the Oracle finished her divination.

"I'm afraid this is very troublesome news. The stones have revealed this God came far from the West. He carried within, a type of poison in his body, a poisonous hatred that drove him mad and ate away the good that remained. It was this very poison that turned the God into a demon, sending it on a rampage until it reached our borders."

The Oracle looked up from her divination cloth to stare at the siblings.

"Prince Ashitaka, Princess Kotone."

"Yes?" the siblings straightened their backs.

"Show us your arms."

The siblings hesitated briefly, something flickering within their eyes, but were gone almost before anyone could notice. Lifting up their injured arms, the two unraveled the bandages and held out their arms for the Elders to see. Encircling their arms was a long, jagged mark colored in purplish red. The scar reminiscent of the worm-like tentacles that had covered the boar's body. To the others, it must have seem like a burn.

It certainly hurt like one.

Shocked gasps echoed loudly in the room when the Elders saw the marks.

"Hii-sama, what does this mean?" Jii-san asked the Oracle, anxiety clear within his voice.

The Oracle merely stared at the siblings in silence as a small smile spread upon her lips. Kotone never fully understood the Oracle's words and readings even as a little girl. The constant rambling of fate being set in stone didn't sit well with the Princess. Fate was something they could change, why couldn't anyone seem to understand that?

"My prince and princess, are you two prepared to hear what the stones have foretold?"

The siblings were quiet for a mere moment until Ashitaka spoke for the two of them.

"Yes," he said.

Again the Oracle simply smiled cryptically before she spoke.

"The wound will slowly spread throughout your body, taking root within your soul. It will cause you great pain, and will eventually kill you."

Ashitaka and Kotone hardened their expressions solemnly after hearing the Oracle's predictions. The Oracle was never one to sugar-coat her words after all. The two of them had been prepared to hear their fate the moment their arrows flew.

Now the Elders were riled up by the Oracle's words.

"Hii-sama, isn't there any way to stop it?!" Jii-san asked desperately, his heart aching at what the Oracle said.

"The Prince and Princess were cursed only because they tried to save our daughters!" Elder Kohaku, who was Sae's father, added.

"We can't just watch them die!" Hana's own father said, a bitter expression upon his face as he stared at the floor.

As the Elders spoke their outrage and protests over what the Oracle had divined, Kotone gripped her brother's hand in hers. Her heart was crying for her people and at herself for the fate that had befallen her and her brother. All she wanted to do was protect her friends, but it seemed even the Gods were plotting against her by bestowing this curse upon her and Ashitaka.

"One cannot change their fates, my prince and princess. No one can. However, you may rise to meet it if you so choose," the Oracle reached into her robe and brought out a small iron ball for the others to see. "Take a look at this. I discovered it in the body of the boar skeleton, right where his heart was. No doubt it was this iron ball that shattered the boar's organs and destroyed him from the inside. This is what caused the board to become a demon."

The siblings exchanged looks with one another.

"There is something ominous happening within the western lands. My prince and princess, you both may head there and seek out answers. It's your fate to go there and see with eyes unclouded by hate. You may even find a way to lift the curse placed upon you both, do you understand?"

"Yes," they both said without hesitation.

One of the Elders, Garai, then spoke out in a tired, worn voice as he lamented the fate that had befallen the Emishi Clan.

"It's been five hundred years since our tribe was destroyed by the emperor while driving the remnants of our people to the east. Some managed to survive and adapt to living here, but our tribe's blood grows thinner and weaker with each generation. Now our last prince and princess must cut their hair and leave us, never to return? Sometimes, I believe the gods are laughing at us. Taking away our beloved prince and princess whom were fated to rule us, forcing them to leave our tribe forever."

Kotone and Ashitaka turned to the altar at that moment. The two of them took out identical small, red daggers and unsheathed them. Holding her topknot with one hand, Kotone quickly sliced through her hair with the dagger, leaving the rest of her hair dangling around her neck in tresses. She placed her topknot on the table and bowed while her brother did the same.

"Our laws forbid us from sending you off. May the Gods guide your path as you walk, Farewell." the Oracle said quietly.

Both of them got up and quietly left the shrine.

* * *

Back within their shared room, the siblings packed their bags with the necessary provisions for their journey in silence. Kotone wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and quickly pulled on a blue tunic that would serve as her undershirt. Yanking on a pair of tan pants that provided her enough room to move around in, Kotone pulled on her pair of straw boots and tied them around her ankles. Next she took out two arm coverings and pulled them on, shielding her cursed mark from view. Her brother wore similar clothing on the opposite side of the room.

"Aniki..."

"I know Kotone. The laws of our village must be followed," Ashitaka said.

Kotone sighed quietly to herself and covered her head with a red hood with a mask that covered the lower half of her face. Slipping her bow and quiver of arrows around her shoulders, and tying her sword around the sash of her waist, Kotone tugged her straw cape around her shoulders and tied it tightly closed. The cape would serve as shelter from the rain and would also keep her warm at the same time.

"Come," her brother said.

The two of them quietly made their way to the stable where their elks were already saddled from earlier. Yakul and Hakul looked up at their masters, snorting quietly as the siblings led them out before mounting up. Most of the villagers were already asleep by that point, so it was relatively easy to slip out without alerting anyone until they saw Kaya hiding behind one of the straw huts.

"Ashitaka, Kotone," she hurried over to them.

"Kaya! You know it's forbidden to watch us leave," Kotone chastised gently.

"I don't care about the laws. I wanted to give you two these," their friend said.

Holding out her palms to the two of them, the siblings could see two pairs of crystal daggers nestled within her palm.

"We can't take these. They're meant for you and your future husband," Ashitaka said quietly.

"I want you two to have them. That way...you won't forget about me and the village," Kaya said, fighting back tears as she spoke.

Kotone and Ashitaka reached down to take up a dagger each in their hands. The latter pulled down her face mask and smiled at her best friend.

"We won't forget you Kaya," she promised.

"How could we forget after all we've been through?" Ashitaka added.

"With us gone from the village, the position of leader falls to you next Kaya. Lead them on the right path, make us proud to call you our sister."

Without another word, the siblings urged their elks into a sprint and the two rode away, never to return to the Emishi village again.

* * *

_To be continued..._

_Review? _

_Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? _

_Let me know what you think!_

_Celsius Fate~_


	2. Chapter 2

**Princess Mononoke and other Studio Ghibli films are on Netflix! I grew up watching them and I've always loved Princess Mononoke and wanted to write a fanfiction about it, but never really got the chance. Rewatching it on Netflix has rekindled my interest in writing the story, so I've decided to go ahead and write it XD **

**Summary: Ashitaka and his twin sister were the Prince and Princess of the Emishi tribe, with the Elders preparing for the ceremony to make the the heads of the village. When they are cursed by a Demon from the West, they are forced to leave the village and become embroiled in a bitter battle between humanity and Forest Spirits. As they desperately try to stop the needless bloodshed, they run into two humans raised by Wolves...**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Princess Mononoke nor do I make any profit off this **

**Note: This story will contain OCs**

* * *

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

**Twisted Destiny**

**xXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx**

**Chapter II**

The siblings rode far and fast, through vast open plains and densely populated woods. They rode for miles and miles until the boundaries of the Emishi Village were long far behind. Kotone admired the scenery around her as they rode on their Elks. Both of them passed through deep valleys, mountainsides, and crossed surging rivers. It wasn't long before they found themselves in the Western territories like the Oracle had said. Whenever they grew tired, they would find secluded areas to rest in for the night (avoiding villages as much as possible) and slept until the sun rose, then they'd be on their way once more.

After traveling for what the siblings assumed to be a week or more after being banished did they come across their first danger on this long journey. Ashitaka was the first to spot rising smoke in the distance. Alarmed by this, the siblings rode down a trail along the mountain until they saw a simple village coming into view, no doubt a farming one due to the vast area of rice fields.

Yet that wasn't what alarmed them.

It was the samurais attacking the innocent villagers that caused them alarm.

"Aniki...what's going on?" Kotone breathed, her eyes locked onto the battlefield.

"It's a massacre..." her brother replied.

The Samurai were trading blows with the men of the village while children and women, with bags of belongings strapped to their backs, screamed and fled for their lives away from all the carnage. Kotone could clearly see it was a one-sided victory. The regular men were no match for the Samurai and their armors.

Suddenly one of the Samurai looked over in their direction.

"Look! On the hill!" he cried, alerting his comrades to their position.

Arrows began raining down on them from the small group formed at the base of the trail. Urging their Elks forward, the siblings rode away as arrows continued flying in their direction, yet none managed to hit their target. Pulling out arrows from their own quivers, the siblings were prepared to fight back if more Samurai came their way. Kotone saw one of the warriors with his weapon raised in air, the deadly blade hacking at the bag of a villager who was desperately trying to escape her attacker.

_Those bastards! How dare they!_

It seems her brother caught on as well.

The Samurai raised his blade in the air a second time, preparing for the final blow.

"STOP!" Ashitaka roared beside his sister.

At the same time, both siblings grunted as the curse marks began to writhe and pulsate furiously beneath their coverings. Kotone clutched her left arm before she was able to let her arrow fly, but her brother managed to let his soar through the pain. With unnatural strength, the tip of the arrow not only pierced through its target, but it completely _ripped _off the arms of the Samurai. The arrow pinned the severed limbs —the hands still grasping the hilt— to the side of a tree.

Taking this chance, the woman scrambled away as the armless soldier gaped at the sight of his detached limbs dangling from the bark. The siblings rode past the man, knocking him onto his back while several more Samurai continued chasing after them on horseback this time.

With their opposite arms still pulsing in pain, the siblings grit their teeth and fought back the urges to scream in agony. Kotone in particular, was having a harder time compared to her brother. The only thing she could do was grasp her left arm with her right as Hakuul rode through the trail. The curse mark was starting to burn like fire against her other hand.

_What's going on? _she thought, her gaze locking onto her brother's who was riding ahead.

Turning her head around, Kotone spotted the two archers still pursuing them on horseback. Pushing through the pain, she notched an arrow to her bow and aimed it at one of them, her eyes burning with fury at the thought of all the pillaging and destruction rained down upon the innocent village. The thought of what she just witnessed only served to rile up her arm even more.

"You bastards!" she seethed angrily.

An arrow flew towards her but Kotone was able to doge before releasing her own. The projectile sailed towards the first Samurai who had aimed at her, cleanly slicing through his neck, severing it from his body while the horse neighed in terror. His companion immediately stopped his horse, clearly valuing his own life more than chasing down two stray warriors.

The siblings rode off into the forest, quickly vanishing from sight yet again.

Behind the duo, the second Samurai turned to look at his companion's limp body sliding off the horse. In all his years as a Samurai, he had never seen an arrow cleanly slice off someone's head like that. His eyes went back to the forest where the two siblings had disappeared into, and a single word fell from between his lips.

"_Demons_..."

* * *

The siblings rode deep into the forest before Ashitaka called for them to stop. Kotone was grateful for this because she was feeling drained, like she couldn't even lift a finger or leg any longer. They managed to find a waterfall within the forest, and both of them dismounted to let their Elks drink from the stream. Kotone took off her straw covering and blue arm coverings to stare at the mark. Sticking her hand under the waterfall, she let it soak up the clear liquid while Hakuul drank from the stream beside her. Ashitaka was doing the same thing to the right of her.

"Aniki...it's getting bigger."

"I know...maybe it had something to do with earlier."

Running a hand through her short locks in frustration, Kotone leaned back against the rock and exhaled a breath.

"We'll rest here for the night. Tomorrow we'll continue but we might need to stop by a village to buy some more rice."

Offering to gather firewood for the two of them, Kotone wandered a bit away from the area where they were making camp. She needed the time alone to think about what she had just seen. Having grown up in the village all her life, she was pretty much sheltered from the harsh realities of the outside world. Today proved just _how_ sheltered she had been.

With an abundant amount of firewood gathered, she returned back to the campsite with her brother and they shared a quiet meal before eventually falling asleep.

* * *

The siblings awoke before the sun was even up and continued on their journey.

Neither of them spoke much as they rode on their Elks.

The guilty conscience of the day before still weighed heavily on their minds.

When they were out of the forest and in the clearing, Ashitaka spotted a village in the distance and they rode there together. The only thing going through Kotone's mind was food, and where there's people, there's bound to be food. Food that they both required to retain sustenance to keep up on their journey.

"Aniki, do we have enough gold to pay for the food?" she asked, pulling Hakuul up beside her older brother.

Ashitaka took out a small pouch and looked inside.

"Yes. We have more than enough. Come, let's see if we can find a rice vendor."

Near the edge of the village, both siblings dismounted and held onto the reins of their steeds as they walked inside.

Almost immediately Kotone could feel twenty pairs of eyes staring at her, burning through the back of her head as she walked beside her brother. Thankfully she had grown accustomed to stares from others and didn't let it bother her _too_ much. Spotting a rice vendor to the side of the street, they made their way over and Ashitaka requested for a small bag of rice.

The rice vendor glanced up at the two strangers and at the crowed surrounding her. Wordlessly she scooped up enough rice to fill the small sack Ashitaka was holding out. Reaching into his sash, Ashitaka took out a small gold nugget and placed it in her palm.

"Here," he said quietly.

The woman's expression turned into a scowl as she stared at the nugget.

"This isn't money! What do you think you're trying to pull? Give me back the rice you thieves!" she hissed angrily at them.

Kotone was about to shoot back a scathing reply of her own when a short, fat man bearing a red umbrella and a backpack interrupted them.

"Wait, let's not fight. Allow me to take a look would you?" the strange man said, holding his hand out to the rice vendor.

"Fine," she answered with a scowl, dropping the nugget into his open palm.

The stranger lifted up the nugget and scrutinized it carefully under the sun. His expression morphed to one of surprise at what he was seeing, then the corners of his lips turned upward into a slight smirk.

"This is a gold nugget! A _real _gold nugget, which is _more _than enough to pay for the bag of rice. I'd reckon this nugget can purchase _at least _four bags, if not more!" he declared as the crowd gasped and began whispering in awe to one another. Kotone stuck closer against her brother as the stranger —a monk judging by his clothes— eyed them curiously as he turned back to the woman.

"However, if you _truly_ do not want this, then why not give me the nugget and I will pay for their rice instead? Is there a money changer around here? Does anyone know?"

Kotone rolled her eyes and shook her head slightly in disapproval at what the monk was trying to pull. The nugget belonged to her brother, shouldn't it be right if _he _was the one to take it back? Ashitaka calmly patted her on the shoulder and signaled they should leave. Tugging on the reins of their Elks, the siblings turned and began to walk away from the crowd when the monk realized they were trying to slip away.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" he called after the duo.

The monk's attempt to leave was foiled by the rice vendor who was clawing at his hand to get the gold nugget back.

"Give it back, it's mine!" she shrieked, taking the gold nugget as the monk was too distracted.

Kotone and Ashitaka had mounted their Elks and were enjoying the brief moment of silence provided before the monk from earlier caught up to them. Kotone was amazed that the man was able to catch up to them so swiftly despite his age. Exchanging a look with her brother, Kotone kept her eyes ahead but alert as she scanned their surroundings.

"Where are you two off to? No need to thank me by the way," the monk said cheerfully.

The siblings remained silent.

"You know, the way you two fought back at the village there, I would've dare say the demon must have possessed you two. I've never seen someone take off another's arm with a mere arrow. I was simply amazed, not to mention I wouldn't want to get on your bad side."

At this the siblings gave the monk a sideways glance in alarm, until Kotone caught something moving in her peripheral vision. Turning her head at the same time with her brother, they noticed they were being followed by two men, both bearing long spears over their shoulders.

"I see you've finally noticed eh? With what the village just saw back there, I'm not surprised we're being followed. That's the price of being wealthy these days. They'll wait until we fall asleep and then strike no doubt." The monk grinned up at the siblings and continued, "shall we run then?" Not waiting for a reply from either of them, the monk took off sprinting down the road with remarkable speed. Both siblings urged their Elks into a run as well, leaving the two bandits behind as they followed after the monk.

* * *

The trio stopped for the night at what appeared to be an abandoned tunnel of sorts blocked off at one end by debris, The monk started to cook dinner for the three of them and Ashitaka told the monk their story (leaving out their origins from the Emishi village) while the monk listened quietly. Kotone realized not once did the monk ask for their names, nor did he divulge his. The three of them were merely strangers brought together by chance, not that it mattered to Kotone. She'd very much prefer if they were strangers at this point.

By the time her brother finished, the sun had already set and the only light provided was the small fire the monk was using to cook their rice gruel.

"So the Demon that terrorized your village turned out to be a Boar God?" the monk murmured, as if speaking to himself mostly.

"Yes. We tracked its trail down the mountain, but when we reached the village...we lost it." Ashitaka replied while Kotone hugged her knees against her chest.

"That's life my dear boy." The monk gestured to their surroundings, prompting the siblings to glance around where they could make out grave markers and boulders with broken pieces of plank wood. "See our surroundings? When I came here last time a few years ago, this was a lovely little village. But then, there must have been a flood or a landslide, and now everyone is dead. These days, we are all surrounded by ghosts of angry spirits. People die every day, whether it be from war or starvation, starvation even. Do you think anybody cares about them? You two say you're under a curse, so what? The whole damn world's under a curse as well." The monk said casually as he pulled out a small package from his bag to mix in with the rice gruel.

The siblings regarded the monk's words briefly before they stared at the fire again.

"We never should have gotten involved in that fight...now two men are dead because of us," Kotone said.

"True as it may be, your actions saved the rest of the village, myself included. As for those samurai, you win some, you lose some. It's the way of life around here. Some just die earlier rather than later." The monk pointed out before looking up and holding out his hand, "Come now, give me your bowls."

The siblings reached into their small pouches and took out identical red bowls which they handed over to the monk.

"Such beautiful bowls...you know, seeing you two makes me think of a story." The monk took their bowls and scooped up a ladle of rice gruel each before handing it back to them while continuing. "Have you two heard of the Emishi people? My master told me they used to ride red elks like yours and used stone arrowheads like your arrows."

Ashitaka and Kotone observed the monk quietly as the latter downed his bowl of rice gruel before refilling.

"Of course they were all wiped out five hundred years ago. You don't have to worry about me though, I won't tell people where you're from. Come on, this rice is yours, eat up!" he finished with a chuckle.

Kotone lifted her bowl up to eat while her brother reached into his pouch again to take out the metal object the Oracle had given them.

"Have you ever seen an object like this?" he asked, holding it out to the monk.

Taking it between his pair of chopsticks, the monk studied the object carefully for several seconds. "Never have," he responded in a cool voice, passing the object back to her brother.

"This ball came from the Demon's body. It shattered his organs and rotted his flesh, turning him into a monster as a result."

The monk made a small noise with his mouth, as if contemplating whether or not to tell the siblings his next words.

"Up in the mountains, far to the west from here, where they say the Forest Spirit has made his home. It's a very dangerous place for humans, and those who enter never return alive."

The siblings looked up at this as their eyes widened.

"The Forest Spirit?" they echoed in unison.

"Yes. I've heard people say the animals who live there are giants, just like they were during the Age of the Forest."

While the monk continued shoving rice gruel into his mouth, the siblings glanced at one another, then to their Elks. Hakuul and Yakuul were contently grazing on hay behind them the entire time, but at that moment they seemed to share one mind. Just as quickly, the siblings went back to their food in silence.

When the sun began peeking over the horizon, the siblings gathered their things and left the ruins quietly without looking at the sleeping monk wrapped up in a small blanket. Climbing onto the backs of their Elks, they took off for the distance after giving their strange host a curt bow, unaware the monk had been awake and knew they were leaving.

"See you two there my friends," the monk mumbled before closing his eyes again.

* * *

_To be continued..._

_Review? _

_The wolves (along with San and my OC) are coming next chapter! _

_See you then!_

_Celsius Fate~_


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